Pretoria - As the death toll in the country’s worst floods in 60 years reaches 450, the government’s poor response has been slammed by opposition parties.
To date, 63 people remain missing, and more than 13 500 houses have been destroyed.
This has infuriated opposition parties, which have laid into the government’s preparedness for natural disasters, saying its slow response, dilapidated infrastructure and “outdated disaster management plans” failed KZN residents.
They voiced their concerns shortly after President Cyril Ramaphosa and other senior politicians visited KZN last week to assess the damage.
A State of Disaster was later declared in the province after the heavy torrential rain ravaged large parts of the region.
The disaster has destroyed homes and infrastructure, causing R8 billion in damage.
KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala said the disaster was one of the worst ever recorded in the history of his province.
On Sunday, he announced that the Department of Human Settlements would put aside R1 bn to assist residents who have lost their homes.
He said the province was still assessing the total damage.
“A total of 13 556 people have been affected, with 8 329 houses partially damaged, and 3 937 homes destroyed.
“With effect from Tuesday, the MEC for Human Settlements will lead a programme to identify land for the temporary relocation of people, facilitate provision of temporary shelters and also work on long-term interventions.
“The loss of life, destruction of homes, the damage to the physical infrastructure, the demolition of public buildings, and the consequent damage to services combined to make this natural disaster one of the worst ever in recorded history of our province,” Zikalala said.
However, various government initiatives have done very little to stave off criticism from opposition parties.
KZN DA chairperson Dean Macpherson said: “What has happened is tragic and deeply traumatic for the province, and it’s clear that hundreds of people, including children, have sadly died.
“It is clear that many questions are starting to be asked about the preparedness of eThekwini and other municipalities for something like this.
“However, our primary concern right now is to ensure search and rescue operations continue without delay, and that water and electricity is restored urgently to residents to avoid secondary disasters like waterborne disease.”
He said the DA would investigate whether the disaster could have been avoided.
“In time to come, we will start to look at how this could have been avoided and if there was negligence on behalf of the ANC-led government in terms of failure to provide adequate infrastructure and safety to avert the loss of life and damage that we have seen,” Macpherson added.
EFF spokesperson Sinawo Tambo said the red berets were saddened by the loss of life and infrastructure. He added that the impact of the tragedy would have been less if the government had foresight.
“We have seen floods in the province before, which means disaster management measures should be in place, evacuations should be done on time, and adequate drainage systems should be in place. The lack of these measures reveals an ill-prepared government and the consequences of a lack of service delivery and infrastructure development,” Tambo said.
UDM president Bantu Holomisa said the South African government was non-existent, saying they did too little too late.
“It’s typical of our government. They are always found wanting. It took them long to even communicate with the rest of the country as to what was going on. There seems not to be any co-ordination to deal with such disasters. We have not invested to deal with disasters of this magnitude. We have an air force squadron in KZN that could have been easily deployed with helicopters to assist. Our government is a disaster themselves. We just don’t have a government.”
Black First Land First president Andile Mngxitama said the impact of the floods exposed the racist underbelly of SA’s democracy.
“The racist infrastructure explains why black homes were so easily washed over. Also, the death toll shall show it is blacks who are dying. Any natural disaster exposes the racist nature of our society.
“Also the response of the state shows how racism continues. If white lives were lost, serious timeous interventions would have been deployed. We call for the army to deploy all its resources to save lives and also assist in the reconstruction post the floods,” Mngxitama said.
ActionSA KZN chairperson Musa Kubheka said that the devastation wreaked by the floods was heart wrenching.
“The level of destitution and infrastructure damage, coupled with the slow response of the government, is indicative of ANC failures. Lack of preparedness and outdated disaster management plans have further exacerbated a dire situation. Disaster management has been left wanting as they were unable to attend to the situation speedily,” said Kubheka.
Pretoria News